Chain wrench.



No. 769,054. PATENTED AUG. 30, 1904.

G. w. BUFFORD. CHAIN WRENCH.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 18. L904. 7

N0 MODEL.

Keys.

[a] I f I 11's ATTORNEY Patented August 30, 1904.

' UNITE STAT S PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE WILLIAM BUFFORD, 0E BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR To J. H. wILLIAMs AND coMPANr,

PORATION OF NEW YORK.

OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A COR- CHAIN WRENCH."

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. '769,054, dated August 30, 1904.

Application filed July 18, 1904:.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE WILLIAM BUE- FORD, of the boroughof Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ohain Wrenches, of which the following is a specification.

In the use of chain wrenches the chain becomes slack during the return movement of the wrench preparatory to taking a fresh grip on the article to be turned, and some provision is necessary .to prevent the chain becoming unlocked at this time, particularly when the wrench is used in'certain positions. The United States Patent of Booth and Redfield,

No. $9,508, grantedJune 13, 1893, de-

scribes a construction for this purpose consisting of inclinations of the locks toward the handle which are efiicient for the purpose with the type of wrench illustrated in said patent, wherein the wrench has a double head between which the chain swings and the chain being pivoted close to the locks. This construction to avold the accidental disengagement of the chain has proven, however,

to be unreliable in wrenches having a single head to whlch is pivoted a double-acting sin-' gle'course chain which opposes the grippingfaces of thehead so as to squarely embrace an article grasped between themysuch a wrench, being shown, for example, in the United States Patent of Buiiord, No. 743,058, granted November 3, 1903. The lock construction of the Booth and Redfield patent when applied'to such a wrench as is shown in the Bufford patent does not effectively retain the chain, especially when the chain is used with the head up. 7

The particular object of the present invention is to provide effective means for preventing the accidental disengagement of the chain in wrenches having a single head to which a double-acting single-course grip-face opposing chain is pivoted. To this end the wrench is providedwith retainers which engage a pintle of the chain adjacent to the one engaging the locks in such manner as to prevent the locking-pintle when the chain is slack Serial No. 217,124. (No model.)

i dropping away by gravity so far from the look as to become disengaged therefrom.

in the accompanying drawings, in which being broken away to show the construction. Fig. 2 is an edge or face view of the wrench, and Fig. 3 is a detailed section in the plane indicated by the line 3 3 in Fig. 1.

The illustrated wrench has a handle A, a

ate with locks D, which are rigid with the handle and head and on both sides of the wrench. Each lock is hook-shaped and is bifurcated, so as to permit the passage of the chain-links when the chain-pintle is engaged therewith. In all of these respects the illustrated wrench is or may be substantially like the wrench of the aforesaid Butford patent. The principal feature of the present improvements consists of the means for retaining the chain when locked from accidental disengagement when the wrench is used in such a situation that the locking-pintle might drop by gravity away from the lock in use when the chain is slackened on the reverse movement of the wrench. To this end a retainer E is provided on each side of the wrench cooperating with the corresponding lock and said retainer being rigid withthe handle and head of the wrench. Each of these retainers E is located upon the outer side of the corresponding lock, and it includes an engaging point 0 and an adjacent recess cZ. These features of the retainer bear certain relations to the point a of thelock, to the locking-seat f jacent pintles of the chain which are of importance' These relations all have refer- The present improvements are illustrated Figure 1 is a side view of the wrench, parts as uSuaLhas'prOjecting pintles which coopersingle head B rigid with the handle, and a of the lock, and to the distance between adence to the distance between the nearest portions of adjacent pintles, this distance being that indicated between the points 9 and h in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and for brevity this distance will be defined as the inside pintle distance. The distancebetweenthe points 0 and e of the retainer and hook is greater than the inside pintle distance, the distance between the point e of the lock and any portion of the retaining-recess d is greater than the inside pintle distance, and the distance between the bottom of the locking-seat f and the two points 0 and e or any portion of the outside surface 7;, connecting the same, is less than the inside pintle distance. For convenience the particular pintle j which is for the time being in cooperation with the lock will be called the locking-pintle, while the adjacent pintle 716 which is then in engagement with the retainer will be called the retaining-pintle. As a consequence of the relations just stated between the lock-retainer and adjacent pintles it follows that the locking-pintle can never drop away from its look far enough to become disengaged, because, as shown in Fig. 1, the retaining-pintle seats in the retaining-recess d before the locking-pintle is free from the point of the lock. In order to lock or unlock the locking-pintle, it is necessary that it should be seated against the locking-seat f, at which time the retaining-pintle can be swung clear from the retainer. This necessitates a movement which is an upward one at any time when there is any danger of the locking-pintle dropping accidentally by gravity, and consequently there can be no accidental unlocking during the use of the wrench.

The principal utility of the present improvement is in connection with a wrench having a double-acting single-course chain pivoted to the head remote from the looks. The improvement can, however, be employed with other types of wrenches.

1 do not herein claim any feature which is set forth in the companion application of George Amborn, the present invention being subordinate to that of Amborn.

I claim as my invention- 1. A chain wrench having, in combination, a handle; a single serrated head rigid with the handle; a double-acting single-course flatlink chain pivoted to the head and opposed to the serrated faces thereof, said chain having projecting pintles; a hook-shaped bifurcated lock furnishing a locking-seat for said chain on each side of the wrench rigid with the head and handle; and a retainer on each side of the wrench rigid with the head and handle con1- prising a retaining-recess on the opposite side of the look from the locking-seat, the lock and retainer being adapted to both pass between a pair of adjacent chain-pintlcs, the point of the lock being at a greater distance from the point of the retainer and from the bottom of the retaining-recess than thcinside pintle distance, and the locking-seat being at a less distance from the points of the lock and retainer than the inside pintle distance.

2. A chain wrench having, in combination, a handle; a head; apivoted chain havinglocking-pintles; a lock furnishing a locking-scat for said chain; and a retainer comprising a retaining-recess on the opposite side of the lock from the locking-seat; the lock and re-' tainer being adapted to both pass between a pair of adjacent chain-pintles, the point of the lock being at a greater distance from the point of the retainer and from the bottom of the retaining-recess than the inside pintle distance, and the locking-seat being at a less distance from the points of the lock and retainer than the inside pintle distance.

3. A chain wrench having, in combination, a handle; a single serrated head rigid with the handle; a double-acting single-course chain pivoted to the head and opposed to the serrated faces thereof, said chain having projecting locking-pintles; and a lock for said chain on each'side of the wrench rigid with the head and handle, said lock having a locking-seat on one side and a retaining-recess on the opposite side, and the lock being adapted to pass between a pair of adjacent chain-pintles, thereby bringing the locking-seat into cooperation with one chain-pintle, and the retaining-recess into cooperation with an adjacent chain-pintle.

4. A chain wrench having, in combination, ahandle; a head; a pivoted chain having locking-pintles; and a lock having a locking-seat for said chain on one side, and a retaining-recess on the opposite side, and the lock being adapted to pass between a pair of adjacent chain-pintles, thereby bringing the lockingseat into cooperation with one chain-pintle, and the retaining-recess into cooperation with an adjacent chain-pintle.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE W] L11] AM BU] FORD.

Witnesses:

MORTIMER J. TRAVIS, JAMES H. SAN JULE. 

